The romantic liaison between the great Amazon warrior queen and the conqueror of the known world has been much mythologised. But did such a delicious pairing really happen? Adrienne Mayor investigates.

When Alexander assumed the despotic state of the Eastern monarchs he had overthrown, he aroused growing resentment among his loyal Macedonian followers. E. Badian carries the story on, to his early death in the year 323 B.C